Finally!
That took long enough.
Here at The Choice, we have been calling for Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to do the right thing for some time.
Our opinion is that Shahrizat should have resigned two months ago, or one month ago. This is not because we judge her as guilty or not guilty but simply because it is the right thing to do… for her party, for her government, for her nation.
It also looks evident to us that April 8th was around the corner, and perhaps this helped shape Shahrizat’s thinking. She faced a lose-lose proposition on April 8th if she waited to be pushed. So she jumped.
Her decision to leave as minister but to try and stay on as Wanita chief strikes us as a mistake. We would have preferred a clean sweep.
Shahrizat has become a liability to Umno, whether innocent or guilty, and a distraction. So we would be better off if she simply sailed into the sunset quietly. And let the MACC finish its work. And if there is music to face then she should face it. And if not then she can write her memoirs.
We want to get on with a GE13 based on issues and policy visions, not the latest on Shahrizat. Frankly, we are tired of the Shahrizat saga, and we suspect the rakyat is also tired of it.
The rakyat are interested in their incomes, their futures, their children’s education, and not the latest on Shahrizat.
Shahrizat is undeniably entitled to due process, to the completion of the MACC investigation, and to the presumption of innocence.
But in many democracies, if a minister is under the cloud of even alleged scandal, they often stand down in order to try and clear their name. So Shahrizat has finally got the message. Better late than never.
Now it would be correct for her to also give up the Wanita brief, and to elegantly get out of the picture.